We have the league's unofficial "superfan," a male school teacher who traveled to every WNBA city for a game last season all to honor a dear friend and WNBA fan who had lost her fight with cancer.
We have Stormfans who earn 50% the leagues GM's vote for creating the most hostile atmosphere for opposing WNBA teams. This is something we really need to think about. Let's do the math, people. 6 GM's picked Seattle, 3 picked Connecticut and 3 picked unique teams not from either Seattle or Connecticut.
Here is my interpretation of those results. 3 GM's picked a particular rival city that hates their team. Chuck them. 3 eastern conference teams picked Connecticut, a small arena with a very passionate local women's basketball fan base fed by PASSIONATE fans in the locality of the most dominant NCAA Women's Basketball team in the history of the sport. If you didn't know, that team had UCONN great (Sayles) and now has three UCONN greats in Asjha Jones, Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles. Three of their current starters came out of their local program. Then we have Seattle. We have a Division 1 Husky team that has made the first round of the NCAA tournament once that I recall and has ZERO current alumnus on WNBA rosters. We have a defunct ABL team named the Seattle Reign, a team that only broke .500 in the final season of the league's existence when they folded after 15 games.
OK, I am biased...Seattle clearly has the best fans in the league...blah, blah, blah.
Back to my point. I simply got jazzed by the following quote from a USA Today article...
"Everyone deserves a second chance," said Phyllis Young, a longtime Shock fan who traveled to the game from Flint, Mich. "So you've got to support that."
The ownership of the Detroit Shock bailed. Unlike the Houston Comets, the Sacramento Monarchs, the Miami Sol, the Cleveland Rockers, and the Portland Fire, the Shock found a new home in Tulsa. This fan defies logic and travels all the way from Detroit, a city absolutely DECIMATED by the collapse of the US auto industry and the weakness of the US economy, to Tulsa to watch a team which only has two truly familiar faces on the roster. Kara Braxton and Plennette Pierson are the only faces of the franchise still on the Shock roster after the relocation. Pierson was a traded player who became an invaluable 6th woman while Braxton is the talented but frustrating player who moved into a starting role after the trade of Ruth Riley to San Antonio. Two of last year's rookies, Shavonte Zellous and Alexis Hornbuckle are nice players, but barely had a chance to woo over Detroit fans. Still, Young makes the trip to see HER team play.
That is the essence of a WNBA fan to me. Not every Shock fan makes that trip, but for any team in this league you WILL find fans who will make that trip.
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